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11820en-us2014-05-28T14:20:58ZWed, 28 May 2014 14:20:58 +0000hourly12000-01-01T12:00+00:00Lou Ferrigno: 'I'm Not Dead'http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/05/29/lou-ferrigno-im-not-dead.htm
<p><img border="0" width="476" src="http://0.tqn.com/d/urbanlegends/1/0/3/f/1/lou-ferrigno-dead-hoax.jpg" title="Via Facebook" alt="Lou Ferrigno Killed in Auto Accident"></p>
<p>Actor and fitness guru Lou Ferrigno posted a <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152410305672299">video of himself</a> on Wednesday debunking an Internet hoax that claimed he was dead.</p>
<p>"Hi, everyone. It's Lou Ferrigno," went the unpretentious message. "I'm on my way to the bank. It's a great Wednesday, beautiful and sunny. I'm not dead. I'm still alive, and don't believe everything you hear or what you read. Just to say I love you so much. Thank you for your concern. Thank you all, and I'm going to live a long time, kid."</p>
<p>A story had appeared earlier in the day on an ersatz <em>USA Today</em> news page reporting that Ferrigno was killed in a multi-vehicle traffic accident near Santa Barbara. The website has since vanished.</p>
<p><strong>Related:</strong><br />
&#8226; <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/od/celebrities/ss/Celebrity-Responses-To-Fake-Death-Notices.htm">Top 10 Funniest Celeb Responses to Fake Death Reports</a></p>http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/05/29/lou-ferrigno-im-not-dead.htmThu, 29 May 2014 09:52:54 +00002014-05-29T09:52:54ZMcDonald's 'Semen Sandwich' Story Is a Hoaxhttp://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/05/28/mcdonalds-semen-sandwich-story-is-a-hoax.htm
<p><img border="0" width="400" src="http://0.tqn.com/d/urbanlegends/1/0/1/f/1/semen-in-mcdonalds-burger.jpg" title="Via Facebook" alt="Health Department Confirmed Semen found on McDonald's Mayonnaise"></p>
<p>There's a <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://www.allsingaporestuff.com/article/health-department-confirmed-semen-found-mcdonald%E2%80%99s-mayonnaise">story</a> making the social media rounds guaranteed to put you off McChicken Sandwiches for the rest of your life &#8212; if you believe it.</p>
<p>A woman in Michigan ordered a McChicken Sandwich for lunch last week, the story goes, but when she tasted it immediately realized there was something "not right" about the mayonnaise. She took a sample to the health department (who wouldn't?), where it was determined via laboratory tests that the "mayo" was contaminated with "two different types of semen."</p>
<p><!--more--> Wait, there's more! Adding insult to injury, the woman developed sores on her mouth and was diagnosed with herpes.</p>
<p>Ew, right? But let's not rush to judgment. First, no such incident was reported in any local, state, or national media sources here in the U.S. Second, <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://www.health.state.mn.us/divs/idepc/diseases/herpes/genitalherpes.html">medical experts</a> say herpes can only be spread via direct physical contact with an infected person, not food or drink. Third, rumors about food products purposely adulterated with bodily fluids are <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/od/fooddrink/a/olive_garden.htm">a dime a dozen</a>, and &#8212; albeit on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://citizensvoice.com/news/feds-larksville-man-contaminated-co-workers-lunches-with-semen-1.1217280">rare</a> <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/perth-woman-sues-deli-owner-after-drinking-sperm-from-bottled-water-20131219-2znnw.html">occasions</a> true &#8212; mostly legendary.</p>
<p><strong>More secret sauce:</strong><br />
&#8226; <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/od/fooddrink/a/olive_garden.htm">Did a Diner Contract Syphilis at Olive Garden?</a><br />
&#8226; <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/od/fooddrink/a/pizza.htm">I Like My Pizza Without the "P"</a><br />
&#8226; <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/od/fooddrink/fl/Do-Energy-Drinks-Contain-Bull-Semen.htm">Do Energy Drinks Contain Bull Semen?</a></p>http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/05/28/mcdonalds-semen-sandwich-story-is-a-hoax.htmWed, 28 May 2014 14:20:58 +00002014-05-28T14:20:58ZReturn of the Butt Spider!http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/05/27/return-of-the-butt-spider.htm
<p><a href="/od/spiders/a/two_striped_telamonia.htm"><img border="0" align="right" width="175" hspace="5" src="http://0.tqn.com/d/urbanlegends/1/0/z/e/1/two-striped-telamonia-spider-facebook.jpg" title="Via Facebook" alt="Two Striped Telamonia Spider"></a> Thanks to social media, an oldie-but-goodie is circulating again, namely a <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/od/spiders/a/two_striped_telamonia.htm">viral alert</a> warning of a "deadly" spider called the Two-Striped Telamonia. It hides under toilet seats, supposedly, and is responsible for the deaths of three people who dined at a popular restaurant in North Florida.</p>
<p>The spider really does exist, but it's neither deadly nor found in Florida. The viral alert is an updated version of a <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/od/spiders/a/butt_spider.htm">crass hoax</a> that first made the rounds back in 1999. <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/od/spiders/a/two_striped_telamonia.htm">Read more...</a></p>http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/05/27/return-of-the-butt-spider.htmTue, 27 May 2014 13:01:26 +00002014-05-27T13:01:26ZObama vs. 'In God We Trust'?http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/05/26/obama-vs-in-god-we-trust.htm
Don't waste your credulity on <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/od/Fake-News/fl/Obama-Removing-In-God-We-Trust-From-Currency.htm">that article</a> making the rounds claiming that President Obama intends to remove the motto "In God We Trust" from all U.S. currency beginning July 1, 2014. It's the work of <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://nationalreport.net/author/paul-horner/">Paul Horner</a>, a staff writer for the <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/od/Fake-News/tp/A-Guide-to-Fake-News-Websites.htm">news satire</a> site NationalReport.net. For the record, Obama isn't running for a third term, either. <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/od/Fake-News/fl/Obama-Removing-In-God-We-Trust-From-Currency.htm">Read more...</a>http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/05/26/obama-vs-in-god-we-trust.htmMon, 26 May 2014 13:57:15 +00002014-05-26T13:57:15ZTomb of the Unknown Soldierhttp://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/05/26/tomb-of-the-unknown-soldier.htm
<p><a href="/library/bl_tomb_unknown_soldier.htm"><img border="0" align="right" hspace="5" width="130" src="http://0.tqn.com/d/urbanlegends/1/0/X/9/1/tomb_of_the_unknowns-t.jpg" title="Tomb of the Unknown Soldier - Photo by Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images"></a>Among the <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/library/bl_tomb_unknown_soldier.htm">colorful myths</a> surrounding the Tomb of the Unknowns in Arlington Cemetery and its 24-hour-a-day Honor Guard are the claims that the guards' permanent residence is a barracks under the tomb itself and that they're forbidden to drink alcohol, on or off duty, for the rest of their lives.</p>
<p>Colorful, but <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/library/bl_tomb_unknown_soldier.htm">untrue</a>.</p>http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/05/26/tomb-of-the-unknown-soldier.htmMon, 26 May 2014 08:11:32 +00002014-05-26T08:11:32ZHoax Quiz: Can YOU Spot the Fakes?http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/05/23/hoax-quiz-spot-the-fakes.htm
<p><a href="/library/bl_image_quiz.htm"><img border="0" width="350" src="http://0.tqn.com/d/urbanlegends/1/5/y/a/1/pig-fish.jpg" title="Viral image" alt="Hoax Quiz"></a><br />Image #1:&#160; A specimen of "pigfish" (aka "wild hogfish") an<br />invasive species that tastes like bacon!<br /><br />Choose One: Is it <a href="http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_image_quiz.htm?lastQuestion=0&#038;answers=0&#038;submit=Next+Image+%3E%3E&#038;ccount=0"><b>Real</b></a> or <a href="http://urbanlegends.about.com/library/bl_image_quiz.htm?lastQuestion=0&#038;answers=1&#038;submit=Next+Image+%3E%3E&#038;ccount=0"><b>Fake</b></a>?</p>http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/05/23/hoax-quiz-spot-the-fakes.htmFri, 23 May 2014 07:40:24 +00002014-05-23T07:40:24ZKung Pao Rathttp://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/05/19/kung-pao-rat-2.htm
<p><a href="/library/bl_rats_chinese_restaurant.htm"><img border="0" align="right" width="175" hspace="5" src="http://0.tqn.com/d/urbanlegends/1/0/d/5/restaurant001.jpg" title="Frozen rats" alt="Chinese restaurant serves rats and mice"></a>Straight out of the hoax recycling bin comes a <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/library/bl_rats_chinese_restaurant.htm">familiar viral alert</a> claiming that a popular Chinese restaurant in Atlanta has been shut down after health officials received a tip that the owner was taking deliveries of frozen rats, mice, and (gulp) puppies for use in its recipes.</p>
<p>The photo at right showing a package of whole frozen rats is authentic, but it came from a website that sells food for pet snakes, not a restaurant freezer.</p>
<p>The ever-so-slightly revised text dates from 2005, when we first found it circulating via forwarded email. The urban legend on which it's based, the notion that unscrupulous restaurant owners (usually ethnic minorities) cut costs by butchering rodents or kidnapped household pets to serve in place of chicken and beef, is far older &#8212; at least two centuries old by some estimates.</p>
<p><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/library/bl_rats_chinese_restaurant.htm">Read more...</a>http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/05/19/kung-pao-rat-2.htmMon, 19 May 2014 13:39:20 +00002014-05-19T13:39:20ZWas a Miner REALLY Found Alive After 17 Years Underground?http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/05/08/was-a-miner-really-found-alive-after-17-years-underground.htm
<p><img border="0" align="right" hspace="5" width="200" src="http://0.tqn.com/d/urbanlegends/1/0/H/e/1/miner-found-alive-after-17-years-underground.jpg" title="Fake News from World News Daily Report: Miner Found ALive After 17 Years Underground" alt="Hoax">Is it true, per a <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/china-miner-found-alive-after-17-years-underground/">report circulating on the Internet</a> today, that a coal miner was found alive in an abandoned mine in western China after being trapped undergound for 17 years?</p>
<p>Uh, no. It didn't happen. The report comes from a notorious purveyor of fake news, <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/">World News Daily Report</a>, which <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/disclaimer/">states quite clearly</a> on its disclaimer page:</p>
<p>"All news articles contained within worldnewsdailyreport.com are fiction, and presumably fake news. Any resemblance to the truth is purely coincidental, except for all references to politicians and/or celebrities, in which case they are based on real people, but still based almost entirely in fiction."</p>
<p>For what it's worth, a couple of years ago a Chinese miner <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2012-05/19/c_131598476.htm">actually was found alive</a> after being trapped underground in a coal mine &#8212; for 17 <em>days</em>.
<p><strong>Fake news roundup:</strong><br />
&#8226; <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/od/Fake-News/ss/Christian-Boy-Dies-For-3-Minutes.htm">Christian Boy Dies For 3 Minutes, Meets Allah</a><br />
&#8226; <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/od/Fake-News/ss/Miley-Cyrus-Kicked-Out-of-Derby-Party.htm">Miley Cyrus Kicked Out of Kentucky Derby</a><br />
&#8226; <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/od/Fake-News/ss/Jockey-Accidentally-Euthanized-After-Breaking-Leg.htm">Jockey Accidentally Euthanized After Breaking Leg</a><br />
&#8226; <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/od/Fake-News/ss/McDonalds-Uses-Worm-Meat-Fillers.htm">McDonald's Uses Worm Meat Fillers</a><br />
&#8226; <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/od/medical/ss/Smoking-Bed-Bugs-to-Get-High.htm">Teens Smoking Bed Bugs to Get High</a><br />
&#8226; <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=/od/Fake-News/ss/Fake-News-British-Scientists-Clone-Dinosaur.htm">British Scientists Clone Dinosaur</a></p>http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/05/08/was-a-miner-really-found-alive-after-17-years-underground.htmThu, 08 May 2014 19:43:02 +00002014-05-08T19:43:02ZIT'S A HOAX: 'Amazing Spider-Man 2' Cancelled in the Philippineshttp://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/04/29/hoax-amazing-spider-man-2-cancelled-in-the-philippines.htm
<p><a href="http://sowhatsnews.wordpress.com/2014/04/29/the-amazing-spider-man-2-screening-cancelled-in-the-philippines/"><img align="right" width="200" hspace="5" src="http://0.tqn.com/d/urbanlegends/1/0/F/d/1/the-amazing-spider-man-2-cancelled-in-the-philippines.jpg" title="Via So, What's News?" alt="The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Cancelled in the Philippines Due to Kris Interview"></a><a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://sowhatsnews.wordpress.com/2014/04/29/the-amazing-spider-man-2-screening-cancelled-in-the-philippines/">An article making the rounds today</a> claims <em>The Amazing Spider-Man 2</em> won't be released in the Philippines "due to fears it would not do so well at the box office." </p>
<p>The dubious announcement was allegedly made by one "Jon Arbuckle of Columbia Pictures" &#8212; our first clue that the story is a hoax. There's no executive by that name at Columbia Pictures. Jon Arbuckle is a <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://garfield.wikia.com/wiki/Jon_Arbuckle">fictional character</a> in the <em>Garfield</em> comic strip.</p>
<p>The article is a satirical response to a statement made last week by Filipino talk show host Kris Aquino, who apparently commented during a TV interview with actor Andrew Garfield that <em>My Little Bossings</em>, a critically unacclaimed film starring her son Bimby, grossed more on its first-day Philippines opening than <em>The Amazing Spider-Man</em>. While true &#8212; <em>My Little Bossings</em> remains the highest-grossing movie in Philippines history &#8212; Aquino's braggadocio <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=https://ph.celebrity.yahoo.com/news/kris-aquino-draws-flak-for-statements-in-andrew-garfield-interview---073316894.html">drew flak</a> via social media.</p>
<p><em>The Amazing Spider-Man 2</em> is set to open in the Philippines on April 30, as scheduled.</p>http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/04/29/hoax-amazing-spider-man-2-cancelled-in-the-philippines.htmTue, 29 Apr 2014 12:52:07 +00002014-04-29T12:52:07ZMarquez 'Farewell Letter' Is Touching, But Fakehttp://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/04/19/marquez-farewell-letter-is-touching-but-fake.htm
<p><img border="0" width="500" vspace="2" src="http://0.tqn.com/d/urbanlegends/1/0/h/c/1/gabriel-garcia-marquez.jpg" title="Gabriel Garcia Marquez" alt="Gabriel Garcia Marquez"><br />Gabriel Garc&#237;a M&#225;rquez<br /><em>Paco Junquera / Cover / Getty Images</em></p>
<p>The great Colombian novelist <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://literatureintranslation.about.com/od/AuthorsG/p/GarciaMarquezBio.htm">Gabriel Garc&#237;a M&#225;rquez</a> died last week at the age of 87, leaving behind a much-admired body of work including <em>One Hundred Years of Solitude</em> and <em>Love in the Time of Cholera</em>. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982.</p>
<p>Another work he's purported to have left behind is a poetic "<a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://www.prrb.ca/articles/issue08-marquez.html">Farewell Letter</a>" currently making the rounds via social media, which begins, in this particular translation, "If God, for a second, forgot what I have become and granted me a little bit more of life, I would use it to the best of my ability. I wouldn't, possibly, say everything that is in my mind, but I would be more thoughtful of all I say."</p>
<p>But though it's signed, "Your Friend, Gabriel Garc&#237;a M&#225;rquez," in fact he did not write the syrupy, clich&#233;-ridden poem and even dismissed it in a newspaper interview a few years back as "cheesy." <!--more--></p>
<p>Originally titled "La Marioneta" ("The Puppet"), the text was first attributed to M&#225;rquez in May 2000 when he was under treatment for cancer and rumors of his impending death, though false, were spreading throughout Latin America. It was published under his name in Spanish-language newspapers and "went viral," as we now say, via forwarded email.</p>
<p>As it turned out, the poem was actually written by Mexican ventriloquist Johnny Welch and was first published in 1996. You can read <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://elshowdejohnnywelch.com/lamarioneta.html">the original</a> on Welch's website.</p>
<p><strong>Learn more:</strong><br />
&#8226; <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/17/world/americas/gabriel-garcia-marquez-dies/">Gabriel Garc&#237;a M&#225;rquez, Nobel Prize-winning Author, Dies at 87</a><br />
&#8226; <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://literatureintranslation.about.com/od/AuthorsG/p/GarciaMarquezBio.htm">Gabriel Garc&#237;a M&#225;rquez Bio</a><br />
&#8226; <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/marquez.html">Gabriel Garc&#237;a M&#225;rquez's Final Farewell</a><br />
&#8226; <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/jan/21/books.booksnews">Magic Realism... and Fakery</a><br />
&#8226; <a href="http://clk.about.com/?zi=1/1hc&#038;zu=http://www.elsalvador.com/noticias/EDICIONESANTERIORES/2000/JUNIO/junio2/ESCENARIOS/escen3.html">Garc&#237;a M&#225;rquez: "Lo Que Me Mata Es Que Crean Que Escribo As&#237;"</a></p>http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2014/04/19/marquez-farewell-letter-is-touching-but-fake.htmSat, 19 Apr 2014 13:59:34 +00002014-04-19T13:59:34Z